Google is taking fire from all sides when it comes to its Android operating system

I. Android Rises,
Competitors Look to Cash In

When it
comes to its prized Android operating system, Google is being attacked from all
sides. According to the latest market share numbers from Canalys, Google's
worldwide market share with Android-based smartphones is just under 50 percent.
Likewise, for every two iPhones that are sold, five
smartphones running Android are sold.

With
Android already taking over in the smartphone sector, and preparing for a surge
in tablets, Apple is looking to cut Android device makers off at the knees with
lawsuits claiming patent infringement [1][2][3][4][5].

Apparently,
Google has had enough of its mobile operating system -- and its partners --
being attacked by competitors. David Drummond, Google's Senior Vice President
and Chief Legal Officer, took
to the company's official blog and had more than a few words for Apple,
Microsoft, and Oracle regarding their "bogus" patent claims. Drummond
claims that the trio has sparked a "hostile, organized campaign" against
Android and that their claims of patent violations are baseless.

Drummond
even went so far as to dismiss Apple and Microsoft's buddy-buddy relationship
which led to the purchase of Novell's war chest of patents. "I have
worked in the tech sector for over two decades," opined Drummond.
"Microsoft and Apple have always been at each other’s throats, so when
they get into bed together you have to start wondering what's going on."

Apple,
Microsoft, and four other tech giants purchased Nortel's patent portfolio for a
whopping
$4.5B, far surpassing Google's initial bid of $900M and final bid of over $3.14B. "The winning $4.5 billion for Nortel’s patent portfolio
was nearly five times larger than the pre-auction estimate of $1 billion,"
Drummond continued. "Fortunately, the law frowns on the accumulation of
dubious patents for anti-competitive means — which means these deals are likely
to draw regulatory scrutiny, and this patent bubble will pop."

Drummond
goes on to talk about how everyone is ganging up on Google, and that such
actions simply aren't acceptable in the marketplace:

A smartphone might involve
as many as 250,000 (largely questionable) patent claims, and our competitors
want to impose a “tax” for these dubious patents that makes Android devices
more expensive for consumers. They want to make it harder for manufacturers to
sell Android devices. Instead of competing by building new features or devices,
they are fighting through litigation…

We’re not naive; technology
is a tough and ever-changing industry and we work very hard to stay focused on
our own business and make better products. But in this instance we thought it
was important to speak out and make it clear that we’re determined to preserve
Android as a competitive choice for consumers, by stopping those who are trying
to strangle it.

III. Microsoft Responds

Since
Drummond called out Microsoft in the official Google blog, it shouldn't be too
surprising that at least someone from Redmond was taking notice. Brad Smith,
Microsoft's General Counsel, posted to his Twitter
feed that Microsoft actually was looking to give Google a piece of the action with the
Nortel patent purchase:

Google says we bought
Novell patents to keep them from Google. Really? We asked them to bid jointly
with us. They said no.

Frank
Shaw, head of Microsoft's Corporate Communications department, even got in on
the Twitter-bang action according
to Engadget:

Free advice for David
Drummond – next time check with Kent Walker before you blog. :)

Shaw posted an
image of an email exchange(see image on right) between Brad Smith and Kent Walker, Google Senior Vice President and General Counsel, in which the latter said that Google would rather not go in on a joint bid for Nortel's patents.

It appears that the gloves are off in the mobile operating system battle, and Google is running out of friends to help keep it off the canvas.

"I mean, if you wanna break down someone's door, why don't you start with AT&T, for God sakes? They make your amazing phone unusable as a phone!" -- Jon Stewart on Apple and the iPhone